The Hodgman Liberal Government s Industrial Hemp Bill 2015 has
today passed the House of Assembly.

It will now be tabled for debate in the Legislative Council.

The Bill is another demonstration of the Government s commitment to
growing agriculture, removing unnecessary red tape, encouraging
investment and creating jobs.

The Industrial Hemp Bill supports the growth of the industrial hemp
sector through simplified regulation of the industry. As it stands, the
current regulation under poisons legislation, is a barrier to industry
growth.

This Government has listened to the concerns of the industry.

The Bill will establish a regulatory framework that supports the
expansion of the sector, while not overburdening it with unnecessary
regulation.

This Bill will finally cut the unnecessary red tape and recognise
industrial hemp is an agricultural crop, while not compromising law
enforcement of illicit cannabis.

The Bill establishes robust and simple licencing, including:

Streamlining the licencing under the Department of Primary
Industries, Parks, Water and Environment rather than the current system
under the Poisons Act and Department of Health and Human Services;
Legislating the policy decision to extend licencing from one year to
five years, to give farmers more certainty and allow them to get on with
the job of growing the crop; Legislating the policy decision to
increasing the allowable THC threshold from 0.35 to 1.0 to bring the
state in line with New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT and allow for
easier trade of material. Licences to be issued for commercial
production, food production, or science and research, to enable industry
growth; The introduction of a new special research licence to allow
research into cannabis that exceeds 1% THC threshold, to support the
development of new or improved strains of industrial hemp.

It is important to note that this Bill is focussed on low-THC
varieties of cannabis, which are grown to extract fibre and oil, and
have no value as a drug.

This Bill has been developed following extensive consultation and
collaboration with the industry, including the Industrial Hemp
Association of Tasmania, TFGA, Tasmania Police and other stakeholders.